Privacy policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Terns, Inc. (the “Company”, "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you visit our Website, www.terns.com (the “Website” or “Site”), and purchase products from us. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information.

This Privacy Policy communicates how, when, and why we gather information about our customers and what we do with that information. THIS PRIVACY POLICY DOES NOT APPLY TO OTHER WEBSITES TO WHICH WE MAY INCLUDE LINKS ON THIS WEBSITE. YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE SIGNIFIES YOUR ASSENT TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY, YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO USE THIS WEBSITE.

 Information We Collect

 We collect the following types of personal information provided by you voluntarily when you use our website and make a purchase:

●     Contact Information: such as your name, email address, and phone number.

●     Billing Information: such as your billing address and payment details.

●     Shipping Information: such as your shipping address.

●     Order Information: details about the products you purchase from us.

We may also collect non-personally identifiable information when you use our Website, such as an IP host address, pages viewed, browser type, duration and frequency of visits, and other data, and we may aggregate any information collected in a manner which does not identify you or any other individual.

How We Use Your Information

We use the personal information we collect for the following purposes:

●     Processing Orders: to process and fulfill your orders, including billing and shipping.

●     Communications: to communicate with you about your orders, account, promotions, surveys and other site features.

●     Improvements: to improve our website, products, and services.

●     Legal Obligations: to comply with legal obligations, such as tax and accounting requirements.

We use this personal information in order to provide you with the content, subscriptions, goods and services that you request or purchase through our Website. We use your email address to provide you with information about your order and its status and we may occasionally send out emails, including newsletters, to people who have placed an order online, with information about other goods and services available on our Website. Your phone number may be used by us in the event that our customer service representatives need to contact you about an order you have placed or to contact you regarding customer offers or information you have requested or we need to provide to you.

Data Sharing

We may share your personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

●     Service Providers: we may share your information with third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website, processing payments, and fulfilling orders.

●     Legal Compliance: we may disclose your information to comply with applicable laws and regulations or respond to lawful requests and legal processes.

●     Business Transfers: in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, we may transfer your information to the acquiring entity.

We know how important it is to keep the information you’ve entrusted to us confidential. The Company will never sell, rent or share your personal information, including your email address, with any third parties for marketing purposes without your express written permission. If you do not want us to use or disclose personal information collected about you in the ways identified in this policy, you should not use our Website or services.

Information we automatically collect through your use of the website

As you use the Website, certain information may also be passively collected. Through cookies, pixels, beacons, log files and other technologies, we may collect information about how you use the Website. By knowing about you, we can deliver more helpful information, programs, tools and advertisements.  Please see the sections regarding cookies and opting out of tracking below for more information.

We:

●     Use “cookies” (tracking devices placed on your computer).

●     Honor “do not track” signals and do not use advertising when a “Do Not Track” (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

●     Utilize third-party behavioral tracking.

●     Do not sell, trade or otherwise transfer personal information.

●     Do not include or offer third-party products or services on our Site.

●     Have not enabled Google Adwords on our Site (but reserve the right to do so in the future).

●     Pursuant to the California Online Privacy Protection Act, agree that users can anonymously visit our Site.

●     Post changes to our privacy policy on our Privacy Policy Page.

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a text file stored on the user’s hard drive containing information about the user. The Website creates cookies to record information about a user’s preferences, such as the items you add to your shopping cart, and for security purposes. Cookies are also used to help us determine the various services you use and the support you may need, and to help us detect and solve any problems you may have while using our Site. Most cookies expire after a certain time period. If you wish, you may set your browser to reject all cookies.  Note that turning off cookies may also disable functions of many websites you visit.

Third-Party Links

Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include links to third-party sites on our Website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies to which a user is subject. We have no responsibility or liability for the content, operations, and activities of these linked sites and are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites and we expressly disclaim any and all liability for the actions of third parties or licensees, including, without limitation, actions relating to the use and/or disclosure of personal information by such third parties or licensees. We encourage our users to be aware of when they leave our Website and enter a third-party website and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects their personal information. Our privacy policy applies solely to information collected by our Website. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about any third-party sites linked to our Site.

Newsletters

If a user wishes to subscribe to one of our newsletters or any other informational material that we offer, we will ask for contact information, such as name and email address.

Customer Feedback and Reviews

In order to post a message, comment, provide feedback or ask us a question, you will be asked to submit your name, email address, and zip code. We do not use this information in any way other than to recognize you for postings nor do we disclose this information to any third parties, including other users who participate in comment on this Site, unless required by authorized law enforcement agencies when required.

Do remember that whatever you post on our reviews is considered public knowledge and you should always use caution when posting. Avoid posting your home address or phone number or other personal identifiable information on any public board or forum. We do not allow and will not tolerate the posting of any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening or otherwise in violation of any laws.  We reserve the right to remove or edit any content item or to close any user account for any reason.

The Company reserves the right to re-publish your postings from the message boards in any format. To request removal of your personal information from our reviews or to report what you believe to be inappropriate or offensive content, contact us at hello@terns.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

Surveys

From time-to-time, our Website requests information from our users via surveys. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and the user has a choice whether or not to provide us with such information. Information requested may include contact information, such as name and shipping address, and demographic information, such as zip code, age level. It may also be shared with other third parties as disclosed at the time of collection or in the promotion rules.

Children's Privacy

Our Website is not intended for children under the age of 13 and we do not allow anyone to purchase products on our Website if they are under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online. If you believe we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, please contact us immediately.

Data Retention

We will retain your information as needed to provide you services, including fulfilling your orders. If you wish to request that we no longer use your information to provide you services contact us at hello@terns.com. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Changes to Privacy Policy

We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Privacy Policy at any time. If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Privacy Policy here so that you will always know what information we are gathering, how we might use that information, and whether we may disclose it to a third party.

State Consumer Privacy Laws

State consumer privacy laws may provide their residents with additional rights regarding our use of their personal information. To learn more about California residents' privacy rights, visit [HYPERLINK TO CCPA PRIVACY NOTICE FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS - https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa]. To learn more about consumer privacy rights in other states and how to exercise them, visit [HYPERLINK TO STATE PRIVACY NOTICES - https://state.gov/privacy-policy/].

California Online Privacy Protection Act (“CalOPPA”)

In accordance with the CalOPPA we agree to the following:

●     Users can visit our site anonymously.

●     Honor “do not track” signals and mechanisms.

●     A link to our Privacy Policy is located in the footer of every page of the Website, next to the link to our Terms of Service.

●     Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can be easily found on the pages specified above.

●     Users will be notified of any privacy policy changes on our Privacy Policy Page.

●     Users can unsubscribe from newsletters and other promotional emails by clicking the unsubscribe button at the bottom of these emails or by contacting us at hello@terns.com.

CAN-SPAM Act

The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address and in accordance with CAN-SPAM we agree to the following:

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at hello@terns.com and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence. You can also unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe button at the bottom of any promotional email.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy or our practices regarding your personal information, you may contact us at hello@terns.com or 619-292-8036.

By using our website and providing us with your personal information, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Additional Information for California Residents - Notice at Collection

Terns, Inc. is collecting your personal information to support its business operations, including for the business purposes listed in the chart below.

We will not sell the personal information, however, we collect or share it with third parties for cross-context behavioral advertising.

We may collect the personal information categories listed in the tables below. The tables also list, for each category, our expected retention period and whether we sell the information or share it with third parties for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Sensitive personal information is a subtype of personal information consisting of specific information categories. We may collect or use information that falls with the sensitive personal information categories listed in the table below.

If you have any questions about this Notice or need to access it in an alternative format due to having a disability, please contact hello@terns.com and 619-292-8036.

Policy Effective July 2, 2024